REPUBLISHED OPINION (6/30/2011): History was made in three different ways (1) in this week's Council meeting. The Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) met with city council members and the mayor for the first time in their 13 years of operation. If Dan Angellar, General Manager of the Redmond Marriott of Redmond Town Center has his way LTAC will be meeting and partnering with Council every year.
A community role for LTAC might be described as a "tourism alliance". Agnellar said they try to bring Redmond's three economic groups together to stimulate tourism and increase "heads and beds". Over $337,300 was raised last year from from the 1% lodge tax. So far 50% of LTAC tax revenues go to "Bullseye Creative" - a website branding organization. (A Blog was created and tags with RNB on search engines.) $31,365 goes to promoting private and city sponsored events. Councilmember John Stilin suggested allocating more funds towards the events to attract more people and perhaps less emphasis on the website. Read More >>